Chinese J-20â€™s Impact on India & AMCA

Sudden appearance of grainy images of Chinese first Stealth fighter J-20 made quite a buzz in defence forums and blogs around the world, some experts still believed at that time it to be a handiwork of Chinese Photoshop artist, but that believe quickly faded away when better high resolution images started appearing on the internet and soon first flight of the J-20 took place.

First look at Chinese J-20 and threat level to India: Aircraft seemed to be the worldâ€™s first Stealthy Strike fighter aircraft (F-22 and Pak-Fa are considered Air Superiority fighter) which has been optimized for ground attack role, sheer length of the aircraft (estimated to be 60-65 feet long) suggests that, it not only can carry heavy weapons but also larger internal fuel for long range missions, PLAAF must have kept possible future conflicts in mind while working on Air staff requirement. and aircraft like J-20 will have more than 3000km in range which suggests that whole of North India along with North Eastern sector (Possible conflict Zone) will be under its range, a medium range aircraft in class of Mig-29 was good enough for possible conflicts with S Korea, Japan or even Taiwan but Chinese going for a Heavy Stealthy strike aircraft suggests the threat level India might face from this aircraft in future only goes to higher level.

Design Characters: J-20â€™s bubble canopy and frontal air intake section resembles American F-22, but resembles disappear when you spot canards and S-Shaped DSI optimized air intake, Chinese experience on working of DSI intake for JF-17 and J-10B seems to have come handy for J-20 design .Aircraft seems to be powered by Russian Al-31F Variant or Chinese WS-15 engine which still needs to be clarified.

Possible Weakness: First flight of J-20 also reviled that aircraft did not incorporated any internal weapons bay, which aviation expert suggests that J-20 which flew was just a Technology Demonstrator aircraft and Chinese are still at least five years away from fielding a true 5th Generation fighter aircraft, another possible weakness has been with Chinese is they have struggled to operationalize their turbofan engines (Ws-10 for J-10 and Ws-13 for JF-17 are still not operational) will Ws-15 be ready to power J-20 ? Or they will have Al-31 variants? .

Impact on AMCA? : IAF wants AMCA to be a Multi-role aircraft which can switch between role of fighter aircraft and a ground attack aircraft, ADA and DRDO had suggested AMCA to be a Strike aircraft in medium weight category (20-25 tonne) but which was turned down by IAF , will Arrival of J-20 in the picture change the scenario now ? No says our Indian Aviation Defence experts Rakesh Sharma, he also adds that IAF has done a right decision to stick with fully Stealthy Multi-role aircraft rather than a Semi-stealthy Strike aircraft, he told that if AMCA had turned up has a Strike aircraft it could never had made much difference in contrast to china since due to its limited range it could only have strike options in smaller cities rather than Chinese capital Beijing. Arrival of J-20 will not have much impact on design aspect of the AMCA since ADA has been tasked with a very strict requirement lay downed by IAFâ€™s ASR (Air Staff Requirements). But since MOD will carry out a study on Chinese J-20 soon ,IAF will also be briefed on it and if IAF feels AMCA requires any changes , ADA and DRDO will be notified but it seems that J-20â€™s arrival will have no impact on AMCA project .

Well, we know so very little at this stage??? My guess for the J-20 to be any threat to the PAK-FA/FGFA. It must have a lower RCS and equal to Russia in AESA Radars, Avionics, and Weapons. Which, is a tall order indeed.........

The odds are the it would be ranked the lowest in capability of all the 5th Generation Fighters. Yet, it maybe close enough combined with greater number to be a serious threat nonetheless????

Well, we know so very little at this stage??? My guess for the J-20 to be any threat to the PAK-FA/FGFA. It must have a lower RCS and equal to Russia in AESA Radars, Avionics, and Weapons. Which, is a tall order indeed.........

The odds are the it would be ranked the lowest in capability of all the 5th Generation Fighters. Yet, it maybe close enough combined with greater number to be a serious threat nonetheless????

Time will tell........

Ranking of 5th Generation Fighters....

F-22
F-35
PAK-FA/FGFA
J-20

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Don't forget Chinese KKV has shoot satellite and missile, only U.S. can do it before that.
And China successfully tested anti ship ballistic missile, no the second country did it.

Don't forget Chinese KKV has shoot satellite and missile, only U.S. can do it before that.
And China successfully tested anti ship ballistic missile, no the second country did it.

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How does this affect J20 ? J20 is a different project/weapon and it all depend on how good subsystems like Radar, weapons ,AVionics and stealth are . unless those are proven it will always be at the bottom.

How does this affect J20 ? J20 is a different project/weapon and it all depend on how good subsystems like Radar, weapons ,AVionics and stealth are . unless those are proven it will always be at the bottom.

Click to expand...

China can make the most advanced missiles, but can't make Radar, weapons ,AVionics and stealth for J20? You just don't have a chance to see them, many subsystems of J20 have been tested on J10b and J11b.
The only problem is engines, it needs time to get enough accumulations, but glad to see they are improving rapidly, and GE will share engine tech with China.

China can make the most advanced missiles, but can't make Radar, weapons ,AVionics and stealth for J20? You just don't have a chance to see them, many subsystems of J20 have been tested on J10b and J11b.
The only problem is engines, it needs time to get enough accumulations, but glad to see they are improving rapidly, and GE will share engine tech with China.

Click to expand...

then tell me why Radars for J10 are being Imported? Also why Pakistan was looking to upgrade JF17 system in very first year?

then tell me why Radars for J10 are being Imported? Also why Pakistan was looking to upgrade JF17 system in very first year?

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Radars from Phazotron was a backup/candidate choice for J10's development, now no import at all.
Su-27sk has such cockpit, does it mean Russian Avionics still in 1970s level? At least, JF-17 is much better than LCA.

Well, we know so very little at this stage??? My guess for the J-20 to be any threat to the PAK-FA/FGFA. It must have a lower RCS and equal to Russia in AESA Radars, Avionics, and Weapons. Which, is a tall order indeed.........

The odds are the it would be ranked the lowest in capability of all the 5th Generation Fighters. Yet, it maybe close enough combined with greater number to be a serious threat nonetheless????

Time will tell........

Ranking of 5th Generation Fighters....

F-22
F-35
PAK-FA/FGFA
J-20

Click to expand...

the ranking is going to be fgfa-pak-fa-f-22-j-20-f-35.the pak-fa prototype 1 is more like a tech-demostrator and the fully stealthy(with rear aspect stealth) pre-production prototype is going to be unveiled in 2013.

Radars from Phazotron was a backup/candidate choice for J10's development, now no import at all.
Su-27sk has such cockpit, does it mean Russian Avionics still in 1970s level? At least, JF-17 is much better than LCA.

Naa. JF-17 is heavier than LCA, carries lesser payload and has almost similar range even when LCA has a more powerful engine.

The LCA already has a good radar equipped and its EW system is good while JF's upgrade program is much more behind than LCA. Fact is the stuff that LCA already has JF will get them only in 2012.

Only aerodynamics are questionable. Even with what is available through open source everything suggests the LCA is still better than the JF-17. In other words, your aircraft is sure to suck more than LCA.

Naa. JF-17 is heavier than LCA, carries lesser payload and has almost similar range even when LCA has a more powerful engine.

The LCA already has a good radar equipped and its EW system is good while JF's upgrade program is much more behind than LCA. Fact is the stuff that LCA already has JF will get them only in 2012.

Only aerodynamics are questionable. Even with what is available through open source everything suggests the LCA is still better than the JF-17. In other words, your aircraft is sure to suck more than LCA.

Click to expand...

JF17 is just a commercial project of Chengdu aircraft company and PLA refuses to invest one penny on it.

the primary object of JF17 is not "superbest performance",but " superbest costperformance".

So, Chinese can not apply their best tech to it,but apply most costperformance tech to it.

However, with the rapid development of CHinese aircarft industy, the "costperformance tech" appled to JF17 will also be more and more advanced.